U.K. Natural Gas Advances as Demand Surges on Freezing Weather

Feb. 7 (Bloomberg) -- U.K. natural gas for tomorrow rose
for the first time in three days as demand jumped to the highest
level in almost two weeks amid forecasts for freezing weather.

Within-day and month-ahead contracts also advanced,
according to broker data compiled by Bloomberg. The low
temperature in London today was zero degrees Celsius (32
Fahrenheit) and will drop to minus 1.1 degrees tomorrow and
minus 1.8 degrees Feb. 9, CustomWeather Inc. data on Bloomberg
show.

Gas for tomorrow rose 0.4 percent to 67.95 pence a therm at
5 p.m. London time, according to broker data compiled by
Bloomberg. The next-month contract gained 0.2 percent to 66.2
pence a therm. That’s equivalent to $10.37 per million British
thermal units and compares with $3.43 per million Btu of front-month U.S. gas.

Demand in the 24 hours to 6 a.m. tomorrow will be 345
million cubic meters, the most since Jan. 25, National Grid Plc
data show. The delivery network will contain 356 million cubic
meters at the end of the period, down from 352 million at the
beginning, grid data show.

Total system flows were as high as 371 million cubic meters
a day, the most since Jan. 26, grid data show.

Flows from Norway, the U.K.’s biggest source of imported
gas, touched 123 million cubic meters a day, up from a 10-day
average of 110 million, Gassco AS data show. Dutch imports
reached 35 million cubic meters a day, equal to the most since
Jan. 25, grid data show.

Norwegian gas output was reduced by 6.7 million cubic
meters today for one day, Statoil ASA said on its website.